Abbreviations, rationale for species inclusion and additional information are given in the introductory article for the series. This article is the first in a series of 13 checklist sections covering the Hymenoptera of the British Isles. For each genus and species the original combination and a list of synonyms is provided under the heading 'nomenclature'.

A corresponding up-to-date checklist for Evanioidea is maintained on the Hymenoptera of the British Isles site.

Distribution data for the Evanioidea are taken from Crosskey (1951), with additional references given under notes for each taxon. This is a small superfamily of three extant families, but particularly poorly represented in northern Europe. The Evaniidae (sometimes referred to as 'ensign wasps') are, where known, parasitoids/predators of cockroach oothecae (Crosskey 1951; Brown 1973) and are morphologically very distinct from the remaining families. Whilst rather similar in appearance, the Aulacidae and Gasteruptiidae (Fig. 1) differ markedly in biology, with the single British aulacid, Aulacus striatus (Jurine), being a koinobiont endoparasitoid of Xiphydriidae larvae (see E.R. Skinner & W.G. Thompson's 1960 film, 'The Alder Woodwasp and its Insect Enemies', distributed by World Educational Films: http://worldeducationalfilms.com/the-alder-woodwasp-and-its-insect-enemies/) whilst Gasteruption species are essentially predators and cleptoparasites of solitary bee larvae (Malyshev 1964).